Best SD on Plasma-Dish or Direct or Voom

[JAL]

I am a long time Dishnetwork subscriber. This summer, I purchased a 50 inch plasma tv. The SD is "acceptable," but I'm curious whether Directv or Voom would provide a better SD picture. Also, I haven't been thrilled with the Dish 811 and all of its bugs. What do you guys think? Do the other providers have better hardware. This truly is a genuine question and not meant to start flame wars. I appreciate you responses.

 

[nippjas]

I think you will get answers both positive and negative asking this question. I will abstain from other provider critique...

I will however ask if you have tried other 811 output resolutions while watching SD content?

Jason

 

[Cyclone]

Most people who have switched around state that the PQ between the service is pretty much the same.

 

[StevenD]

What does matter is what receiver it is and how its hooked up. I have a 921, and Dish SD through DVI or Component looks like crap (OTA SD looks pretty good). If I view it through S-Video, it looks decent. However, on my 721 or 508 hooked up via S-Video, even the SD looks pretty good.

I don't have a plasma, but I do have a Samsung DLP.

 

[boba]

Voom isn't doing very good so read the forums before thinking about it, they may have more software problems than DISH. I like Directv HDTV equipment for reliability but their SD is definitely not HDTV but it is acceptable.

 

[ocaddict]

Hey Jal. What connections are you using between the receiver and cheap-0 plasma? S-Video, RCA, Coax? Like Steven said, I have my 721 hooked via S-Video and the picture quality is pretty darn good on my 50" LCD. Of course not comparible to DVI-HD, but a HELL of a lot better than my friends on standard cable. Anyways, why have an 811 and no TV capable of utilizing it's HD capabilities? You would have been better off getting a receiver with DVR capabilities.

 

[JAL]

I'm using a Monster DVI to HDMI cable. I also have the second input hooked up with Monster s-video.

 

[ocaddict]

oh I see then. So your HD content looks fine with the 811, but anything SD looks like crap. Yep, I had the same problem with my 811 also. I ditched it, but mostly because I thought the HD content was uncompelling, and that dual DVR was a better value than 2 or 3 native HD channels.